{"id":1813439,"date":"2026-03-07T17:10:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T14:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1813439"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:10:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T14:10:55","slug":"netease-pulls-funding-of-yakuza-creators-nagoshi-studio-putting-development-of-gang-of-dragon-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1813439","title":{"rendered":"NetEase pulls funding of Yakuza creator&#8217;s Nagoshi Studio, putting development of Gang of Dragon at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/gang-of-dragon\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Gang of Dragon<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">NetEase pulls funding of Yakuza creator&#8217;s Nagoshi Studio, putting development of Gang of Dragon at risk<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Chinese megacorp will cease funding in May, NetEase says.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Screenshot-2026-03-07-at-17.05.06.png?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Gang of Dragon\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Screenshot-2026-03-07-at-17.05.06.png\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"357\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Nagoshi Studio<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1533038852.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1533038852.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/vikki-blake\">Vikki Blake<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-07T17:10:55+00:00\">March 7, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netease-pulls-funding-of-yakuza-creators-nagoshi-studio-putting-development-of-gang-of-dragon-at-risk?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          10 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"811a9043-3419-44c6-a9c0-dd9c3218757e\" data-name=\"Gang of Dragon\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Gang of Dragon\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Gang of Dragon\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Gang of Dragon\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Gang of Dragon\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Gang of Dragon\" title=\"Follow Gang of Dragon\"><br \/>\n  Follow Gang of Dragon<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>NetEase has reportedly cut funding for Nagoshi Studio, the studio formed by Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-03-07\/netease-to-stop-funding-nagoshi-studio-as-it-cuts-back-on-gaming\">Bloomberg<\/a>, employees at Nagoshi were informed yesterday, Friday 6th March, of the studio&#8217;s pending closure. According to a NetEase spokesperson, it will cease funding the studio in May.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/yakuza-creator-toshihiro-nagoshi-confirms-departure-from-sega\">Nagoshi announced his departure from Yakuza publisher Sega in October 2021<\/a>, when it was first revealed that his new Tokyo-based development house would be joining NetEase. <\/p>\n<p>At the time, the staff page for Nagoshi Studio showed half a dozen other members of his former Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio also quit Sega to join him, including Yakuza director and producer Daisuke Sato.<\/p>\n<p>Bloomberg now reports that the studio has been seeking new sponsorship without success and is in discussions with NetEase about acquiring the rights and branding for the company, as well as any work developed thus far, including Gang of Dragon, its inaugural game, which reportedly requires an additional \u00a333.1 million ($44.4m) to get it over the finish line.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the latest in a line of western studio closures by NetEase,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netease-shutters-another-studio-as-bad-brain-studios-announces-closure-later-this-month\"> including Bad Brain Game Studios<\/a>, the company founded by former Ubisoft developers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>NetEase has reportedly cut funding for Nagoshi Studio, the studio formed by Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-03-07\/netease-to-stop-funding-nagoshi-studio-as-it-cuts-back-on-gaming\">Bloomberg<\/a>, employees at Nagoshi were informed yesterday, Friday 6th March, of the studio&#8217;s pending closure. According to a NetEase spokesperson, it will cease funding the studio in May.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/yakuza-creator-toshihiro-nagoshi-confirms-departure-from-sega\">Nagoshi announced his departure from Yakuza publisher Sega in October 2021<\/a>, when it was first revealed that his new Tokyo-based development house would be joining NetEase. <\/p>\n<p>At the time, the staff page for Nagoshi Studio showed half a dozen other members of his former Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio also quit Sega to join him, including Yakuza director and producer Daisuke Sato.<\/p>\n<p>Bloomberg now reports that the studio has been seeking new sponsorship without success and is in discussions with NetEase about acquiring the rights and branding for the company, as well as any work developed thus far, including Gang of Dragon, its inaugural game, which reportedly requires an additional \u00a333.1 million ($44.4m) to get it over the finish line.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the latest in a line of western studio closures by NetEase,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netease-shutters-another-studio-as-bad-brain-studios-announces-closure-later-this-month\"> including Bad Brain Game Studios<\/a>, the company founded by former Ubisoft developers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Gang of Dragon NetEase pulls funding of Yakuza creator&#8217;s Nagoshi Studio, putting development of Gang of Dragon at risk Chinese megacorp will cease funding in May, NetEase says. Image credit: Nagoshi Studio News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on March 7, 2026 10 comments Follow Gang of Dragon NetEase has reportedly cut funding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1813439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1813439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1813439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1813439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1813439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}